Is Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia woke?

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia has a woke score of 26/100, which means it is not especially woke compared with higher-scoring titles. Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia is a 2016-2018 Netflix animated series created by Guillermo del Toro. It follows ordinary teen Jim Lake Jr. who finds a magic amulet and becomes the Trollhunter, sworn to protect both his suburban California town and a secret underground world of trolls from ancient evil forces like the warlord Gunmar. Jim teams up with his best friend Toby and crush Claire to balance high school life, family duties, and epic battles. Light fantasy themes of prejudice and acceptance between humans and trolls appear alongside natural Latino and immigrant representation in characters and voice cast, but these stay as background allegory in a classic hero adventure without modern activist lectures or identity politics.

Is there DEI in Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia?

The biggest factors in our score are Creator track record context, Representation / casting choices, Identity-driven story themes. After uncovering a mysterious amulet, an average teen assumes an unlikely destiny and sets out to save two worlds.

TV Show review

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

Woke Score

26/ 100

Lower is better

ComedyActionSci-FiAnimationFamilyFantasyAdventure

Release Date: December 23, 2016
Age Rating: TV-Y7
Runtime: 24 min

Breakdown

Factors & Ratings

These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.

Representation / casting choices

Diverse voice actors and characters like Claire fit naturally into a modern California suburb without forced mismatches or story contradictions; strong female roles earn competence through plot contributions rather than unearned dominance.

25 / 100

Political / ideological dialogue

No modern political speeches, activist language, or identity lectures; all conflicts stay rooted in fantasy good-versus-evil battles against ancient trolls.

5 / 100

Identity-driven story themes

Fantasy allegory of prejudice and acceptance between humans and trolls exists with some acclaim for Latino and immigrant representation, but these elements remain secondary and universal rather than central identity-politics plotlines.

20 / 100

Institutional / cultural critique

Standard resistance to a fantasy tyrant (Gunmar) with no modern activist framing of capitalism, patriarchy, Western norms, toxic masculinity, or similar present-day critiques.

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

Factors & Ratings

Summary

Main Cast

Director & Crew